Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, (James Plaskitt):
	The Employment and Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council was held on 8 and 9 December in Brussels. Employment and social policy issues were taken on 8 December. Health and consumer affairs were taken on the 9 December. The council was chaired by my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (John Hutton), apart from the agenda item on the Working Time Directive which was chaired by my right honourable friend, the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (Alan Johnson). I represented the UK seat apart from the Working Time Directive agenda item when my honourable friend the Minister for Employment Relations and Consumer Affairs (Gerry Sutcliffe) took that role.
	The first item was a presidency report from the informal meeting of heads of state and Government, Hampton Court, 27 October. The presidency recalled that Hampton Court, in endorsing the Commission's paper on European Values in the globalised world, had agreed a coherent framework for future thinking on social justice, globalisation and demography. The Employment and Social Policy Council would take the lead on following up work on demographic change.
	A policy debate on demography and human capital revealed a high degree of consensus on the broad approach. Discussions covered labour market participation, the need to extend working lives, reconciling work and family life, increasing momentum towards gender equality in access to employment, regulated immigration mitigating effects of demographic change and free movement within the EU being achieved before third country immigration. The Commission agreed that all the areas identified by member states were important and must be coordinated into a coherent overall strategy. The presidency concluded that the council would return to this issue during discussions on the joint implementation report in the New Year.
	The chairman of the Employment Committee (EMCO) outlined the key conclusions from the examination of national reform programmes. These are the annual reports on each member state's progress towards achieving the Lisbon goals which outline their focused policy objectives. The council noted EMCO's report, and the presidency concluded that EMCO's findings would be useful to the Commission in its preparation of the joint implementation report, and in preparations for the spring council.
	The council reached agreement on two dossiers: a partial political agreement on a decision of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a Community Programme for Employment and Social Solidarity (PROGRESS) which involved agreement on all parts of the programme without budgetary implications; and, political agreement on a common position on the gender recast directive which aims to simplify, modernise and improve existing EU law on equal treatment between men and women. The presidency advised that the European Parliament had confirmed its undertaking not to adopt any amendments in second reading if the council adopted the common position on the basis of the text negotiated in the informal discussions.
	The commissioner introduced the proposed directive on portability of occupational pensions, which seeks to facilitate the acquisition, transfer and protection of occupational pension rights, with the aim of reducing barriers to worker mobility. The presidency gave some feedback from exchanges in council working groups: a number of issues would need to be addressed before the dossier was ready to be discussed at ministerial level.
	There was a lengthy debate on the directive of the European Parliament and of the council amending Directive 2003/88/EC concerning certain aspects of the organisation of working time; the presidency prepared revised texts for discussion and the council almost reached agreement on a package which retained the opt out and solved the doctors' on call issue. However, despite intense negotiation, concerns about clarifying that the limits in the directive apply per worker rather than per job/contract meant this agreement could not finally be reached. The presidency agreed to reflect on the best way forward.
	Under any other business the council noted reports from the presidency on the tenth anniversary of the Beijing Platform for Action—which reviews annually gender equality issues—and presidency conferences on health and safety, corporate social responsibility, and social inclusion. The council also noted a report from Luxembourg on the 4 European meeting of persons in a situation of poverty, and two information items from the Commission, on the biennial report on disability, and on a memorandum of understanding between the Commission and China on employment and social affairs.